


Lingering Dreams

by navaan



Category: Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Character Study, Dreams, Ficlet, Gen, Introspection, Repressed Memories
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-13
Updated: 2010-10-13
Packaged: 2017-10-12 15:55:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/126579
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/navaan/pseuds/navaan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Donna has strange dreams, her grandfather is the only one who listens</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lingering Dreams

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [10_shakespeare](http://community.livejournal.com/10_shakespeare/) , promt Hamlet/"To sleep--perchance to dream..."

There are days when Donna feels burnt out.

She is happy in her marriage. Liffe looks good. Even money isn’t a problem any more nowadays. But sometimes she feels something is missing. Something important.

When the feeling gets stronger the dreams start again.

She has tried to talk about them. Shaun doesn’t understand. Her mother’s face closes off when she tries to tell her. The only one who listens patiently is her grandfather.

“There are stars everywhere,” she says. “And I can feel them moving. I can feel earth spinning beneath my feet and all that is holding me is gravity. I can hear hear planets move through space. The harmony of the universe. It’s beautiful and frightening. A melody that can’t be ignored.” She stares into her tea as if the answer to these dreams lies on the bottom of the cup. “And time. Time is in flux all around me and I can feel it. I can see it. It’s amazing. And I _know_ it. I understand, how the universe works. And then I try to concentrate and wake up.” She can’t explain it properly because the experience, the feelings, the knowledge aren’t really there anymore. The Donna of the dreams doesn’t exist in the waking world. But she remembers that for the moments of the dreams Donna Temple-Noble is... important?

“Sometimes it’s better not to understand everything, Donna.” Her grandfather looks at her sadly, but she thinks she can see a little bit of pride there, too. But why would he be proud of here now? For crazy dreams? “Some things should stay a mystery,” he adds.

She has a sudden flash of a man in a brown coat. Fire and time dancing all around him. She has seen him in dreams. Shining. Standing out. Like a warning not to tread there. “Yeah, maybe,” she says, but doesn’t mean it. “But...” She struggles with the words. How can you explain something you only see and feel in dreams? Something you understand perfectly well until you wake up? “The moment I wake up it fades. And... it hurts.”

“It hurts?” her grandfather asks, slight alarm in his voice.

“Not physically. But waking up, it feels like dying then. Like the Donna of the dream dies every time I wake up.”

He is silent and stares at her intently. Since childhood he understood her better than everyone else and he seems he understands this, too. She shakes her head.

“It’s just weird. That’s all. Sometimes it scares me. But it’s nothing, really. Just strange dreams, right?”

He shrugs helplessly. “Our minds come up with weird things sometimes. Don’t worry about it, Donna. Don’t you worry so much.”

“Yeah,” she can feel the lingering feelings fade away like the last tendrils of the dream. “Yeah, nothing to worry about. Stupid dreams. Nothing special.”

Her grandfather shook his head. “Very special. Never doubt that Donna, never doubt that.”

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[Podfic] Lingering Dreams by navaan](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2715215) by [saffronbunbaker](https://archiveofourown.org/users/saffronbunbaker/pseuds/saffronbunbaker)




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